Michael Jackson Will Probably Not Be Immortalized in the U.S. Capitol

A Capitol Hill staffer told me there’s a rumor going around that California is lobbying to get a statue of Michael Jackson in the Capitol building’s National Statuary Hall Collection, in Washington, D.C. By law, each state is allowed to honor two people from its local history with life-size works placed throughout the building. The statues can be swapped out after 10 years.

In June 2009, California replaced the likeness of 19th-century San Francisco preacher Thomas Starr King with a seven-foot bronze cast of Ronald Reagan. But California’s statue of 18th-century Spanish missionary Father Junipero Serra has been in the Capitol since 1931, presenting an opportunity for the King of Pop to moonwalk his way into the collection. Wouldn’t that be a thriller?The Office of the Architect of the Capitol wouldn’t confirm or deny the Jackson rumor. “Proceedings for the donation of a statue usually begin in the state legislature,” a spokesperson said, explaining that an elected official has to put forward a resolution naming the citizen to be commemorated and provide a method of acquiring the funds to carry out the proposal.

So in the spirit of rumormongering, VF Daily had editorial intern Spencer Bailey spend a day calling the offices of 39 California state senators to see who might be behind the buzz. The collective response? Thirty-one offices hadn’t heard a thing about a Jackson statue, four offices said they would look into it further, and four offices had no answer. It wasn’t a complete waste of time, though, because we got these fun sound bites from the spokespeople who answered the phones at various senators' offices:

“I’ve heard nothing of the sort. Absolutely zero. There’s no way a statue of Michael Jackson will go up and represent the people of California. I’m speaking for myself. There’s no way.”

“I have not heard that, but who knows? That doesn’t mean it’s not true. It is California, after all.”

“I have not heard the slightest thing to that effect. And the state, given the financial crisis we’re in, would have nothing to do with that.”

“We certainly couldn’t go on the record with something that crazy. That’s absurd. Good luck with your article.”